The Association doesn’t only grow vegetables. The Association is committed to working with the community to promote healthy living and growing your own food. Find out more about our links with Comper Foundation Forest School and Woodcraft (https://woodcraft.org.uk/)

Lucy Ginsburg, Forest School leader writes:

You may have seen groups of young children running up the hill at the allotments.  They are on their way to Forest School, which is located at the top of the allotments in the last three plots.  Small groups of children aged 4 and 5 come from Comper Foundation Stage School and East Oxford Primary School once a week throughout the year to the Forest School site.  They experience all weathers – wind, rain, frost, snow, sun and cloud.  They engage in a wide range of activities including playing hide and seek, climbing trees, making dens, exploring, cutting wood, playing with mud and clay, fire making and cooking.  They also love looking at the different plots and finding out about growing vegetables, fruit, flowers and froglets. Mostly they have fun and experience the outdoors in a way they might not be able to in their home environment. Thank you for letting us have this wonderful place in the allotments. 

We start the year stronger as a community, and, finally, with a working bank account with, as mandated by the AGM, the Coop. Now we have finally a place for our money that is separate from the Bartlemas Association, our Association can invest in improvements. The first of which, the shed, was demolished by two members – Andy Wilson and Tim Wiseman – who by doing this saved the Association about £3000 it was going to cost to have it done by the Council. We owe them a great deal of thanks for their community spirit (and also painkillers for strained backs!). We are about to order a container to replace it. Preliminary work cleared a couple of trees on the boundary with the road. The first working party will remove the debris and tidy the area. We expect delivery in late March or early April.

The committee is proposing two Association goals to raise further funding for over the next year or two: communal polytunnels and a composting toilet. More on this in the next few months but do let the committee know what you think. If you have any further thoughts on goals that meet our Association Aims (here: https://barrackslaneallotments.org/our-constitution/#_Toc403227867) then please do suggest them either in person to committee members or via email.

The committee also agreed to enter the Oxford and District  Federation of Allotment Associations  (O&DFAA) competition for the Alderman Knight Award for the Best Kept Allotment Site and to nominate members in the categories of best newcomers and best plots – fancy a challenge and want to enter. Please get in touch (and we might also be contacting you!).

Spring your Seeds on us!

Sunday 13th March 11am-3pm
Bring & Buy table- seeds, seedlings, tools etc!
Drinks and homemade cakes!
Face painting for the children!

Enjoy a drink and some home-made cake and chat with new and existing
plot-holders at the beginning of the allotmenteering year!
We would also welcome any donations of spare seeds or small equipment – flower pots, seedlings, small tools etc

This is a social and fund-raising event with all proceeds going towards
our goals of a poly-tunnel and on-site composting WC so please pop by for a while to socialise and support Barracks Lane Allotments

We all enjoyed a great night on the allotment admiring pumpkins and warming ourselves on a wonderful fire (started by our resident pyromaniac Martin, who used a gas cylinder to great effect).

Here’s one of the pumpkins below
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We also had our resident witches and zombies along to cast their spells (and generally have a great time).

Well, we are now officially Barracks Lane Allotment Association. Members will receive the report by email. It was a great evening with a lot useful discussion about the Constitution and how to continue to run the Association. Thanks to all who attended.

Those elected are as Committee members were:

Andrew Fairweather-Tall (Field Secretary)
Rebecca Mead (Membership Secretary)
Dominic Parkinson (Treasurer)
Sarah Baker-Wilkes
David Mead

AGENDA, Barracks Lane Allotments Annual General Meeting

22 October, 7.30pm, Regal Community Centre

1. Constitution for Barracks Lane Allotment Association
   1. COMMITTEE PROPOSAL – to approve the new Constitution from 1 November 2014
2. AGM 2013  Minutes
3. Election of Committee
   1. Vacancies

• Chair
• Secretary
• Treasurer
  1. Up for re-election are:
• Field Secretary – Andrew Fairweather-Tall (Plots 31 and 30b)
• Membership Secretary – Rebecca Mead (Plots A16 and A17f)
• Sarah Wilkes – Committee member (Plots A45b and A46)
• David Mead – Committee member (Plots A16 and A17f)

4. Treasure’s report
   1. Accounts and budget for 2014-15 (see below)
   2. Oxford District Federation of Allotment Associations: report on City Council rent increase
   3. COMMITTEE PROPOSALS – to approve the budget including an increase in the membership fee from November 2015 by average inflation for 2014-15
5. Field Secretary’s Report
   1. Working parties
   2. Work over the winter
6. Any Other Business

We now have a new name, Barracks Lane Allotments, voted by popular acclaim, and soon a new constitution, subject to discussion and approval at our Annual General Meeting.

This poll is now closed, the overwhelming choice was Barracks Lane

If you have time on your hands, but not enough garden…

If you live in rented accomodation and want a garden that you can keep when you move house…

If you want to get some outdoor excercise whilst growing tasty food for your family…

If you don’t trust food from the supermarket, or want to grow varieties of veg you can’t get in the shops…

If you would like to garden organically…

…then an allotment could be for you.